You wake up on the floor, disoriented, and lean against a nearby table for balance as you stand. Perhaps a sign you enjoyed yourself a bit too much last night but, somehow, you don't think so. Something just doesn't feel right. First of all, where is everyone? What happened? Where are you? More importantly, who are you? Thus you commence your search for answers in The Freewill Cycle: Volume 1 (Redux Edition), a revised and refurbished point-and-click adventure created by William Buchanan and available exclusively here at Jay Is Games.

Just like in the original version, this revamped first installment of a two volume game series blends puzzles into narrative in a style that's clearly reminiscent of The Journeyman Project and Myst. Apparently alone on some sort of spacecraft, explore each room searching for clues on how to escape this unearthly and portentously empty metal edifice. Follow your cursor, which can usually be relied upon for help as it changes direction wherever you can turn or back up and morphs into a magnifying glass or closed fist (in most cases) when you can examine or interact with an object. Items you pick up are stored at the bottom of your screen; just click and drag an object from your inventory to where you want use it. As in real life, the areas of interactivity for these objects is limited by their function; a key will only fit precisely in a keyhole, for example, and a glass should be set squarely on a flat surface.

Although adhering to the same basic structure and gameplay as the previous edition of The Freewill Cycle: Volume 1, navigation, story and scenery have all been improved to render the game as, according to Buchanan, it "should have been." Old puzzles have been modified and new ones added. There are also additional user features such as "save" and "mute" buttons, as well as text labels of items and interactive areas, if you select "Casual Experience" mode before beginning the game. Even so, the "Director's intent" mode—played with lights out and headphones on—is recommended for maximal immersion! As many details have changed and the story has been expanded, those familiar with the initial release of volume 1 still have much to discover and enjoy here, including a new ending that better paves the way for volume 2.

Analysis: While the scenario, setting and some of the puzzles are essentially the same as the original, a first effort by Buchanan—who was, at the time, a novice to game design—this "redux" edition of The Freewill Cycle: Volume 1 is very nicely transformed. It compares well, on a smaller scale, to those aforementioned classic adventures which inspired this creation. The original is categorized as an escape game yet this version, while in many respects not wrongly dubbed an escape, is more aptly described as a narrative adventure for how well it builds plot, utilizes characterization and integrates literary devices into the experience.

This is evinced by the need to consider and synthesize what you read as well as in the setting: inanimate and relatively sterile yet it's sullied by insinuation. A feeling of foreboding follows you every step you take and is imbued by the spacey-spooky soundtrack and hollow tone of your footfalls. Everything you read has subtle indicators and allusions, useful for problem solving your way out as well as making conjectures, mulling over possibilities and postulating theories—all while leaving you full of questions. It's short. You'll wish it was longer, but the next installment (which is on the near horizon) promises fulfillment.

While certainly improved from the first effort, this second version still contains some flaws. Navigation is somewhat cumbersome, especially at first before you're familiar with the surroundings. If you're not careful, it's easy to miss an integral item or area, leaving you wandering through rooms, wondering what you're missing or whether you're going crazy. That issue can be compounded by somewhat picky hotspots which, as mentioned above, require you to be precise in using an item lest you think it's unusable. Finally, while the excess of information in the notebooks and emails is great for fleshing out the story, it can be misleading, especially if you get caught up in details and miss a hint. Frustration over these parts has the potential to spoil the experience so, if you find yourself in that situation, it's a good idea to take a break then come back to play again. You should play twice, anyhow, to encounter both the "bad" and "good" endings. After walking away, you might realize you're thinking about it more than you expected.

The Freewill Cycle: Volume 1 (Redux Edition) has that sort of lingering aftereffect, a mark of a good gaming experience. It's not just the music that will be stuck in your head when you're done; the infinite abyss of space and time keeps many a poor soul awake a night in contemplation of the unthinkable.

syringe, some kind of tubing, and the thing for conductor I think. But, I have no clue what to do now. I've gotten everything out of the lockers, searched and read all in Ritner's office, found the log book and used that to fix the helicity.

It sounds like you need to fix the generator so it is up and running (clues are in the blue notebook in the front right corner of the laser lab) and fix the conductor with the steel rod and breaker reset key.

You also need the precursor solution...back to where you found the syringe and a glass is nearby.

By the time you've done that, you can play with Plasma... from Ritner's emails and from his gold sculpture you'll actually find two sets of numbers for the plasma tanks. Try what you can do with both.

glass on the plasma room machine, left it there. when i came back it was gone... bug? Still trying to figure out a way to fix the conductor. Got the helicity going, got syringe, glass, key card, key, and swiss army knife thingy, and some kind of battery/key (guess it works on the conductor after i fix it)

[It'll pop back into your inventory if you walk away. It doesn't want to be left behind. ~elle]

found the pole that you unscrew from the table in the plasma room and used that to fix the conductor and get the power going. Then I put in the info from Ritner's ball thin on his desk to make some sort of red cylinder in the plasma room... oh it's a filter that gives you -4 Hz!

Constructive criticism comment: over and over again, as I approached the end of the hallway, I clicked on the left door of the two visible, expecting to walk forwards *facing the laser lab*, and instead opened the wrong door. Maybe make that an option, or maybe not use that tilted hand to mean "go forwards", because it looks a lot on that screen like you have the option to choose the left door. And since there is a forwards pointing hand to also mean "go forwards", the tilted hand is a bit redundant.

I've been playing through a lot of point + click games on jayisgames recently and I have to say I found this very frustrating for many different reasons. Some of these may be just me, and I don't want to just be negative for the sake of being negative, so I'm listing my frustration solely in case any of them are helpful for future games :)

Secreted just for space.

- I found the navigation quite confusing when four turns doesn't make a whole. For example in the Zeta wing, it took me a long time to figure out that rotating left and right were turning me 180 degrees. This could perhaps be solved by changing the hand icons that appear to give an indiciation of the size of rotating (eg a half twist rather than pointing left and right).

- I really couldn't tell from the tiny images what several of the items were - in most cases I had to resort to trial and error to figure out which item was meant to go with which object, even if I knew what I was intending to do. I understand this is in the 'casual experience' option, but I was of course playing the director's intent, since that was.. the director's intent.

- You had to be very accurate with some of the hotspots; for example

I thought I had tried the key on both lockers, yet only one had opened due to being slightly out the second time, so I thought there must be another key.

Once I've tried something, I don't normally try it a second time, which means a long time of being stuck.

- With my screen tilted slightly to make things a touch darker, I only stumbled upon the

glass

with random clicking; I didn't actually realise there was something to click there being similar shades to its background.

- At one point I accidentally right clicked the screen. In trying to get rid of the popup menu (which was rather difficult, but that is often the case with flash games, so not really a problem from the game's end), I clicked the top right corner of the screen. This happened to be a magically appearing quit button, with no confirmation, meaning I had to restart from scratch due. I had no idea the quit button was there until after I clicked it; letting the player lose all their progress with one click without warning probably isn't a good idea.

- In a few places, using an object in the wrong place provided a right sound effect, causing you to think you were on the right track. An example (there were some others):

using the keycard on the metal ball causes a door-opening noise

- Finally, two things that I would never have really tried without resorting to a walkthrough:

clicking the metal ball multiple times (or clicking and dragging around) - even with the written hint in the other room, this isn't something I've ever needed to do in a point and click game

clicking the base of the table to get the rod - even after I had read the walkthrough and knew I needed the pole, I was trying to click the pole. Again this was a pretty small hotspot without any features that really makes it stand out as something you might want to click.

I injected the stuff, which made me start seeing white flashes, walked out into the Zeta corridor... and promptly died. Except, my screen kept doing the white flashes, even when I went back to the menu, and even now that I've started a new game. That's not supposed to happen, right?

I remember playing this the first time, vaguely, and remember thinking it was just a really hard game. Now I find it just frustrating.

I really, really wanted to like this game a lot more than I did. Beautiful graphics and a lot of time spent developing the story, and I appreciate that. However, some of the puzzles are purposefully misleading, I feel, and that just seems like a cheap way to add difficulty to a game, similar to making a platformer with stupid jump mechanics.

For example:

Those grates on the ground are almost completely hidden from sight. Further, they don't really look like a grate to me; even after I knew I had to be looking for a grate, I still missed them. I only clicked there because there was nothing else to click on. I think this gets missed in game reviews; just because you figured out the clue/ puzzle, that doesn't make it a good puzzle.

Also:

No labels for the items made it difficult to even know what we were supposed to do with them. I could hardly see what the plasma container was while it was in my inventory, and I only figured it out through trial and error.

Finally:

The whole "put the metal rod in place of the big, black flexi-tube" thing made no sense at all. Why would putting a metal rod there seem like a logical fix, especially when the missing part is laying right there on the floor? Can't count the number of clicks I spend trying to pick that thing up; figured it was a pixel hunt that I was missing.

I still gave it three mushrooms, despite what I feel are some serious gameplay flaws, mostly for the graphics, storyline, and atmosphere.

You make a valid point about using items. It's also a personal issue with me as I see it in just about every game I play...which is a lot, not just those I review, since we have a vetting process at JIG as well as the need evaluate what else is available in order to determine the best the web has to offer. Yet something like...

Using a steel rod to replace a big black tube

...is a common game mechanic, not quite a cheap trick. Currently, I'm playing a soon-to-be released hidden object adventure that does the same thing but to a much greater degree.

My advice to all game developers, in order to avoid this type of issue while still allowing creative (and fun) means to solving in-game problems, is to take care to explain (either visually or with text) and be expressly logical why we'd use an item as we'd use it.

As for the item use you mentioned, neo1973:

Because I couldn't pick it up, I thought: "Wow, this big black tube is much too heavy and unwieldy for me to pick up and then try to attach to the conductor. Maybe I can fool the conductor long enough to think it's stable by jerry rigging it? I'll just ram this steel rod I managed to unscrew off a table...."

On the other hand, I experienced no trouble with...

finding the grate. I could see them clearly along the baseboards where I'd expect to find them, as most grates are on or near the ground to do their purpose.

Maybe this was because I usually play games with the screen sized zoomed larger. I also played the first time in the dark as recommended, so there was no glare to prevent me from seeing items.

I found the atmosphere realistically lit although I agree with other players: it wasn't conducive to easy finding of objects.

Quick note: labels for the items are available with "casual mode." As that's a matter of player preference, it's good to have it as an option instead of a set feature.

Thank you for your feedback! It's nice to hear what other players think of the games. So much depends on subjectivity when it comes to art, literature, movies, games... Good discussions are some of the best outcomes of those different opinions! :)

I supposed that part of my issue is that I look at puzzles too literally, sometimes, and don't think as a puzzle maker would. You know, think outside of the box.

Using our example from above

to me, putting a metal rod in place of what is obviously a shrouded conduit just seems ridiculous. I am talking real world here: that would probably kill you with the amount of volts/ amps flowing through there, as well as melt down. Now, in Camp Pine, placing the paper clip in the low voltage circuit seems like a perfectly reasonable solution.

I know, I know... but that is how I look at these puzzles sometimes, and that is my issue, not the game designer's.

I guess what I don't understand about labeling/ not labeling items is:

I don't feel that guessing what an item is and how it should be used is a fun element of a game. At least the multi-tool looked something like a knife or tool; the plasma beaker looked like... nothing, really. It's kind of just a shadow with outlines, really hard to discern anything from the icon.

I saw something about zooming, so I right clicked on the flash player and "zoomed" but not quite the effect I was looking for, lol. How did you make the playable game larger than the window it pops up in?

Try right-clicking the game link and opening it in a new tab or full browser window. Use your browser controls/options to zoom it larger. Where it is varies by which browser you're using and how you have it set up. On my Firefox, I set up the + and - icons by the address bar because I use them so often. Chrome has a wrench icon for a drop down menu where "zoom" can be found.

More thoughts/comments on our topic:

The generator is offline, remember, so no voltage will affect you when inserting the rod. And desperate times call for desperate measures!

I probably play too many escape games and HOPAs... I am just too inured to crazy solutions to problems. This game is very straight-forward in comparison if you ask me.

Maybe the best recommendation is for folks to play the "casual experience" first...then come back another time to try the "director's intent." Maybe think of it as the "theater version" and the "director's cut" DVD.

I replayed the original release prior to the review, too, so that made me especially dazzled by the quality improvements here! This really is the better game worth taking notice of. :)

All games have flaws but it's always more unfortunate when the flaws are in navigation and similar elements of gaming, as they distract much more from the good qualities than some other drawback would.

I think maybe "regular" and "hard" mode might work best; I think you should definitely leave in your vision of the game.

Personally, when I watch a movie at home I always go with directors cut if available; I don't want to miss anything that was intended for me. And despite the fact that you clearly described the intent of they two gameplay modes, I didn't actually want to play the casual mode because I was afraid that I would miss out on something in the story.

That was good, I played on a big screen so had no problems finding things. Would have liked to have been able to examine in close up, the items I was collecting. The select mechanism for CB's messages was a bit clunky.

Ugh, finished, I think... My brain hurts. I must be pretty dumb because that took me a few times to finish. And I didn't notice that there was an option to save, I figured it saved automatically, so I had to do several things two or three times haha. I had to go to the walkthrough at the end. What I'm confused about still...

When I walked through the zeta wing door at the end, the same thing happened as when I walked through it the first time without the special "protectium" vaccine and presumably got roasted (eheh, yeah I was dumb enough to do that). So how do I know that I turned out ok if it says the exact same message?

If you do it correctly, you should have a different ending than if you just go directly through the hole in the zeta wing. Maybe double-check the steps you took before going out? There is more than one thing you must do with...

...the protectium before it will work. An injection is not enough. If I remember right, the clues regarding protectium's effect (and how to get it) are in Harm's emails.

I made the green goo turn purple with the laser, then put it into the syringe and once it was injected the screen started flashing white. I didn't get the glass of purple goo, but I figured I couldn't because when I clicked on it nothing happened. I read the walkthrough at that point to make sure I had done everything and I had, so I went to the administration room and entered the zeta wing door, still flashing. Also kind of weird, I got to the main menu screen and everything is still flashing white, and when I tried starting over to retrace steps everything is still flashing in the new game.

Is it possible that I did everything right but I'm now experiencing a glitch of some sort? I just don't know what I could have missed, especially after checking the walkthrough... ( ._.)

When I went through the first time I fixed the purple reactor to make it stable, but it's possible that I didn't the third time I came back to finish it (I started over every time). That must be what it is because I stood in front of it.

My only complaints are that the puzzles felt really hard and not terribly intuitive. I had to get help a LOT, but that's mostly me and my opinion. I played the 2nd game and a lot of the puzzles, while not necessarily EASIER, were more logical in their solutions.
My biggest problem was that when I went out into the Zeta hall prematurely and was lost, I had to refresh my browser to get back to the menu. It's like a permanent GAME OVER screen that you have to reset the game to get past. Very annoying.
The game itself was intriguing. I've been taking notes on EVERYONE to try and put together who did what and just what happened. Even with the benefit of hindsight from having played the 2nd game first, I'm still pretty much lost. I've got the bare bones of the plot but the rest escapes me. And the visuals are excellent. The entire time, I was thinking "Gosh it's like the Journey Project Turbo." I have fond memories of failing HORRIBLY at that game as a child. But without walk-throughs or help, every time I made any progress at all it felt like I had beaten a monster with my bare hands. :P

All in all, I'm in favor of the game. Especially as a series. I love games that tease you with the substance just off screen instead of just handing you the story and sending you away.

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